


Cry Havoc

by Sandyclaws68



Series: Making Moments Count [8]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Established Relationship, Farewells, Fourth Shinobi War, Gen, M/M, a little angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-04-09 04:20:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4333635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandyclaws68/pseuds/Sandyclaws68
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>War makes worriers of us all.<i></i></i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cry Havoc

Two days. In two days they would be separated; Iruka headed to the front lines of the covert war while Kakashi was dispatched to the overt one.

Iruka refused to think about how this separation might become permanent.

They had arrived in Kumogakure the night before and first thing that morning had met with the Raikage and his beautiful and efficient assistant Mabui. Iruka had liked both of them immediately, and felt a healthy respect for the Raikage's power. But he had also felt an almost perverse sort of pride upon realizing that for all his immense strength the Raikage was still nowhere near as terrifying as Tsunade-sama.

“Sensei?”

The quiet voice jerked him back to the present and he glanced at Mabui, who was sitting across the table from him with a gentle smile playing around the corners of her mouth. He followed her line of sight down to his left hand and realized that the entire time she had been talking to him he had been fidgeting with his wedding ring. Her smile widened.

“I'm guessing you haven't been married long,” she said.

Iruka shook his head and gave the ring a final twist before deliberately laying both hands flat on the table. “My apologies, Mabui-san. My mind was wandering the entire time you were speaking.”

She cocked her head to one side. “No apology is needed, Iruka-sensei. I'm sure you were thoroughly briefed on the role you'll be playing with this team before you even left Konoha. No need to listen to a repeat.”

Iruka laughed lightly. “Maybe so, but that doesn't forgive rudeness.”

“Sometimes rudeness is. . . understandable.” She reached out with her right hand and laid it over his left, the tips of her fingers brushing his ring. “You're worried,” she said. Iruka opened his mouth to deny it but Mabui shook her head. “I noticed this morning that Hatake-san wears a very similar ring.”

Iruka tensed, shoulders stiffening. He was waiting for the condemnation he was sure would be coming. The people of Konoha were remarkably accepting of their marriage; their shinobi comrades because they understood that life was too short to worry about something as irrelevant as gender when you fell in love and the civilians because the Hokage supported them. He wasn't so sure how they would be received in another village. “I. . .”

“I understand your worry,” she said, her smile fading slightly. “War makes worriers of us all, you know. And when the one you love is expected to be in the thick of it, well. . .” her voice faded away, but there was something in her face that made Iruka believe that she really did understand.

“Who?” he asked.

“Darui,” she replied, sudden lines of tension around her eyes proof of her concern. “He's Raikage-sama's chief military adviser and one of the battalion commanders, just like your Hatake-san.” A shadow crossed her face. “I understand your worry all too well,” she whispered, then looked up and met his eyes. “Tell me. I want to hear a happy story before everything goes to hell.”

“But the mission briefing. . .”

“You don't need it; you know what to do. So tell me, sensei, and make me smile.”

And Iruka found himself doing exactly that. The entire, strange, bizarre, and sometimes downright ridiculous story of his and Kakashi's relationship. Mabui had been sympathetic when he spoke about the Tsukuyomi induced coma, and had laughed at the story of the never-ending birthday flowers. He kept some things to himself; not for anything would he talk about that evening in the Hokage's archives when Kakashi had told him about his friends and gaining the Sharingan. But the tale of Kakashi's awkward marriage proposal had earned more laughs, despite all of the horrors that had preceded it.

“And when Tsunade-sama came out of her coma she was so angry, and insisted we have another ceremony just so she could actually witness Sharingan no Kakashi being tied down! I thought he was going to die of embarrassment when she said she'd be his best man that time.”

Mabui laughed. “You two have really been through a lot,” she said, shaking her head in a fond, yet bemused, way. Then she sobered. “No wonder you fear losing all of that.”

Iruka was quiet for a long moment, thinking, before he shook his head. “Maybe I don't, so much,” he commented. “I've had years of being afraid every time he left the village on an S-rank mission, and this is no worse. At least in this situation I get to share the danger to a degree.” He looked up at the ceiling and a beautiful smile curled his mouth. “And I wouldn't have him be anyone other than who he is. Who he's always been. If I lose him because of that, well, in a strange way it would be worth it.”

**************

The clouds that gave Kumogakure its name made every sunrise interesting. That morning the sky to the east was tinged in a delicate shade of pink that steadily darkened the closer the sun got to the horizon. It would have been an impressive, maybe even breathtaking, sight, if Iruka had bothered to glance that way.

Instead he sat at the desk with his back to the east facing windows of their quarters, a pen in hand and a blank piece of paper in front of him. It was the last thing that he felt he needed to write that morning, and so far it was proving to be the hardest.

He looked up at a sound from the bedroom, but relaxed when nothing further was heard. He had been able to slip out of the room without waking Kakashi, determined that his husband should get as much sleep as possible before everything went to hell. And now that he was thinking about it he realized that Tsunade must have pulled strings to allow them this shared suite of rooms. She had always been remarkably supportive of their relationship, and that hadn't changed with their marriage. The thought brought a smile to his face, the first in days.

He turned his attention back to the blank piece of paper on the desk before him. A part of him insisted that he didn't need to write this, since if the opportunity arose he'd be able to speak to Naruto in person. But there were things that he'd never be able to say or express in front of others, so a letter was the only alternative. That decided he found the words coming much easier and his pen was quickly scratching across the page.

“Iruka?”

He started at the voice behind him and turned to face his husband of less than a year, shifting papers to cover up the last one he had been writing. “Kakashi, what are you doing up? You should be sleeping while you have a chance!

Kakashi smiled as he pushed a hand through his always messy hair. “I was going to say the same thing to you.” He looked past Iruka to the small pile of folded papers on the desk. “Please tell me those don't begin with 'In the event of my death'.”

“They don't.” He flushed slightly. “Well, one does.”

“Iruka -”

“Are you going to claim you haven't done the same thing?” Iruka asked, anger flaring up, quick and bright.

Kakashi's face colored a soft pink. “Not today, I haven't,” he mumbled, the words barely audible. The blush on his cheeks faded. “I did it shortly after we got married, yes. After everything we've been through there was no way in hell I was going to. . . Well, let go without a few, well thought out, final words.”

“And you thought I'd somehow feel differently?” Iruka asked, feeling that spark of anger fade as rapidly as it had swelled. “Kakashi. . .” he began before swallowing hard against the emotions crowding in on him. “Sometimes we all need that chance of a few, well thought out, final words. I just wanted to make sure that you knew -”

“I know, all right? I know it every day! It's there in every touch and in every kiss, in every gasp and in every moan. It's there in every meal cooked and every cup of tea made! Even if you were to die tomorrow I would never – _could never_ – not know!” Kakashi exhaled harshly when he finished, crossing the room in three quick strides to cradle Iruka's face between his hands and crush the younger man's lips beneath his.

“ 'kashi. . .” Iruka managed to gasp out when their lips broke apart.

“I know,” Kakashi repeated in a whisper as he pressed soft kisses to the scar that crossed his husband's nose. “I've always known.”

Iruka wrapped his arms tightly around Kakashi, pressing himself tightly against the taller man. He buried his face in his neck, feeling the pale hair tickling against his cheek as he breathed in Kakashi's scent, wanting desperately to hold on to that. “I've always known, too,” he said softly. He knew Kakashi heard him, though, by the shudder that passed through the lean body.

“Iruka,” Kakashi breathed, the name stirring the dark hair that his cheek was pressed against. “I want one powerful memory to take with me when I go under.”

Iruka grinned against his husband's neck, hearing the deliberate echo of words he had spoken years ago. He pulled away enough to look into Kakashi's mismatched eyes. “We have some time,” he said, stretching up to rub their noses together.

“We'll always have time.”

**************

_Promise me, Iruka. Promise there'll be no tears, no kisses. No good-byes._

Iruka squeezed his eyes shut as those words echoed in his head. He was under the roof of a partially enclosed terrace on the tower in the center of Kumogakure. The other members of the team that would be traveling to the Island Turtle were not far away, and he was aware of every time a set of eyes flickered in his direction.

He knew why they kept looking at him. Behind him, clustered in conversation with the other battalion commanders, was Kakashi. He was a fair distance away, but to Iruka his presence was nearly as tangible as a touch. But the promise – that damned promise – kept his feet rooted where he was.

He understood why Kakashi had extracted that promise from him; why he had also made it. Good-byes had an air of finality to them, and it was better to anticipate a reunion. But understanding didn't make it any easier to stand there and seemingly ignore the man he loved.

“Sensei.”

The quiet voice brought him out of his not-very-productive thoughts to meet the eyes of Aburame Shibi, the captain on his mission. “We need to move out soon,” he said, carefully avoiding looking toward Kakashi.

Iruka nodded in agreement and turned his head slightly, catching a glimpse of his husband's flyaway hair out of the corner of his eye. He may have promised no farewells and no good-bye kiss, but that wasn't going to prevent him from doing something – anything – to acknowledge Kakashi before they were forced apart. He walked closer and respectfully bowed, an apology for interrupting the conversation.

Kakashi's eye had narrowed as soon as Iruka approached, but he didn't hesitate to step away from the man he had been speaking to (who Iruka realized was the Darui that Mabui had spoken of). They moved away from both groups of people on that terrace, finding a semi-secluded spot. “Iruka. . .” Kakashi's soft voice was barely audible over the hum of thousands of voices waiting below.

Iruka shook his head and stepped closer, reaching up and finding the chain that held Kakashi's identity tag (and one of his own). He pulled the chain over the taller man's head, then gently took the jounin's left hand in his and removed his ring. It took only a moment to thread the ring on the chain, re-clasp it, and pass it back over Kakashi's head. Iruka rested his left hand on the jumble of metal that lay against his husband's chest, his own wedding ring touching Kakashi's.

“If you lose that I'll kill you myself.”

Kakashi's visible eye curled upward in its trademark smile as he wrapped his arms around Iruka and pulled the other man close against his chest. Iruka made a protesting noise and felt laughter vibrate through Kakashi's chest. “I never promised no good-bye hug, 'ruka,” he whispered and tightened his arms.

Iruka swallowed hard and melted against him, putting his arms around Kakashi's waist and splaying his hands across the other man's back. He didn't speak, certain that if he opened his mouth he'd violate some part of his promise. They stayed that way, wrapped up in each other, for a long moment before Kakashi's grasp lightened slightly. He bent his head to bring his mouth close to Iruka's ear. “Go. Naruto needs you.”

Iruka loosened his grip and took a step back, gazing into a dark grey eye. He gave a short nod and dropped his arms, moving away at last to join the rest of his team. At the very last moment he looked back, not surprised to see Kakashi watching him walk away. He sketched a small salute, which Kakashi lazily returned, tugging down his mask to flash a quick smile.

He smiled to himself. It wasn't much, but under the circumstances it was more than enough.


End file.
